| Masters
and doctoral dissertations on the karen
Over 40 Masters and Doctoral dissertations, organized chronologically,
dating back as far as 1958. Two of them are downloadable, and most of
them are available for about US$ 30.- at UMI
(we do not sell them ourselves). Search for keywords by pressing Ctrl-F.
2004
'Fixing' the forest: The spatial reorganization of inhabited
landscapes in Mae Tho National Park, Thailand
By Roth, Robin J.
PhD, CLARK UNIVERSITY, 2004, 244 pages
This dissertation addresses the problem
of growing park-people conflict and related land-use change in the populated
highland forests of Northern Thailand. It examines a case in which the
Royal Forestry Department (RFD) is trying to establish a national park
by piloting a land-use model that encourages a transition from swidden
to permanent cultivation and from communal to private land ownership.
This model takes a landscape long managed through flexible, dynamic
and overlapping patterns of use and proposes to manage them using simple
fixed boundaries. The dissertation identifies a process of spatial reorganization
that plays a central role in the transition experienced by mountain
landscapes in Northern Thailand, and arguably in many populated forested
areas where control over natural resource management is shifting from
local to state institutions. This transition has implications for livelihoods,
forests, management institutions, cultural practices and social relations.
The dissertation investigates the spatial reorganization by documenting
the knowledge and perspectives of local people and forestry staff, mapping
the different spaces produced by local and state management practices,
and analyzing the results of a shift from one spatial organization to
another. I collected data in two Karen ethnic minority villages at different
stages of the spatial re-organization and with RFD staff over a sixteen-month
period from February 2001 to July 2002. I made use of a range of methods
and analytical tools including focus groups, key informant interviews,
participatory observation, household surveys, ecological transects,
participatory mapping and GPS/GIS. The research finds that while there
was a slight increase in forest cover, most households suffer from rice
shortage and have difficulty selling any produce. Meanwhile the fixing
of once flexible management systems into statically bounded land-use
units has contributed to less community cooperation and choice in farming
activities, increased inter-community conflict and the erosion of community
institutions for land allocation. Consequently, villagers seek to re-establish
old territories, thwarting government efforts to establish a
National Park. The dissertation concludes by exploring how understanding
the spatial dynamics of local resource
use (e.g., boundary demarcation and gendered activity patterns) might
inform different, less conflict ridden and more equitable, conservation
mechanisms.
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Changing land use patterns in northern Thailand: Effects
of agricultural practices in Mae Chaem
by Ruankaew, Nipada,
PhD, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, 2004, 139 pages
AAT 3110246
Abstract: This dissertation presents
the impacts of historical land use on landscape patterns and dynamics
in three ethnic Karen villages in the district of Mae Chaem, Chiang
Mai province, Northern Thailand. In Khun Mae Yot, farmers have retained
a traditional long-fallow shifting cultivation system with a 10–12
year fallow period. In Mae Hae Tai, the length of fallow has been shortened
to 5–6 years. In Yang Sarn, shifting cultivation was replaced
with permanent agriculture in the mid-1980s. Vegetation surveys were
carried out to examine variation in floristic and structural components
of secondary vegetation and forest land cover types contained within
each landscape. In general, number of trees and basal area increase
with fallow age, with a slight drop of the number of trees in residual
original forest plots. Tree species diversity is lowest in the younger
fallow stands and increases as the stands get older, with a slight decrease
in mature forest stands. An exception is Yang Sarn's disturbed forest,
which contained only a few large trees. Overall, plots in Khun Mae Yot
have the highest species diversity, while plots in Yang Sarn have the
lowest diversity and those in Mae Hae Tai contain intermediate values.
Even though fallow plots had attained similar levels of basal area and
species richness at some ages, their species composition remained distinct
from that of the representative stands of residual original forest.
Landscape analysis of time-series aerial photographs taken at intervals
between 1954 and 1996 allows investigation of effects of different histories
of agriculture on landscape dynamics. The landscape of Khun Mae Yot
showed the least changes in landscape proportions and patterns. Land
cover classes appeared to be almost constant throughout the 1954-1996
period, but land cover patches show dynamic interchanges. The reduction
of fallow length in Mae Hae Tai resulted in increasing dominance of
secondary vegetation as well as the disappearance of forest by 1996.
The landscape thus became more homogeneous. The landscape of Yang Sarn
showed a substantial increase in agricultural area at the expense of
secondary vegetation and forest.
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2003
Imperceptible naked-lives and atrocities: Forcibly displaced
peoples and the Thai-Burmese in-between spaces
by Tangseefa, Decha,
PhD, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I, 2003, 283 pages
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Culture and development in northern Thailand: a comparative
study of Karen and Hmong adaptation to government intervention
by Delang, Claudio O.
PhD, National University of Singapore, 2003, 389 pages
During the last few decades, the Thai
government has been involved in the highlands of northern Thailand with
several policies. Four in particular have affected the lives of the
ethnic minorities living there: outlawing swiddening, reforesting deforested
areas, outlawing opium, and introducing cash corps. These policies have
been carried out rather uniformly, ignoring the cultural differences
of the ethnic groups. Yet, these ethnic groups have reacted differently
to the various development policies.
While there are clear patterns between ethnic groups that indicate that
the divergent adaptations are due to their cultural background, this
has rarely been investigated, and has never been the subject of a comparative
study. This thesis discusses the cultural background behind the differences
between the Karen and the Hmong. To do so, the thesis focuses on the
outlook of the two ethnic groups, breaking it down into three components:
the perception individuals have of space and place, the relationship
between individuals, and the relationship between traditions when individuals
perform an activity.
The thesis argues that it is outlook which is responsible for the Karen
attempt to remain subsistence-oriented, and for the Hmong transition
to a cash-oriented economy. The Karen are more indigenous, which means
that they have a closer relationship to the local environment while
fearing and mistrusting what comes from outside the locality. At the
same time, they have multi-stranded social contexts, which makes them
more conservative and risk averse. This prompts them to seek a solution
to land scarcities inside their locality, and to engage in birth control.
On the other hand, the Hmong have an exogenous outlook that prompts
them to look for a solution to land scarcities outside the village cluster.
At the same time, the Hmong are engaged in single-stranded social relations,
that makes them more ambitious, independent and risk taking.
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No longer strangers: A cross-cultural
bible study for
Tabernacle Baptist Church of Utica, New York
by Caruana, Mark S.
HARTFORD SEMINARY, DMin, 2003, 163 pages
Tabernacle Baptist Church of Utica, New
York has recently welcomed a community of ethnic Karen refugees from
Burma (Myanmar) into its congregational life. This endeavor challenges
aspects of the existing congregational culture of this historic "Old
First" mainline Protestant, American Baptist related congregation
located in an economically struggling small northeastern city. It also
offers the opportunity for the congregation to renew its ministry as
it more fully embraces the radically inclusive table fellowship at the
core of Jesus' proclamation of the basilea of God. The caring
and compassionate welcome the church has extended to newly arrived refugees
in many ways embodies the Christian theological and ecclesial ideal
of hospitality. However, implicit in the host/guest relationship is
a power differential between host and guest. Cultural orientations and
linguistic barriers between Euro-American and Karen congregants exacerbate
this power differential. Hospitality in its most complete manifestation
provides an equal place at the table for all. Consequently, a project
was designed to create a space in the congregational life of Tabernacle
Baptist Church in which the experiences, insights and cultural gifts
of both long term members and more recently arrived refugees could be
shared, discussed, and treasured. The goal was to encourage congregants
from the church's two culturally and linguistically distinct groups
to build relationships that would allow them to listen and hear one
another in an environment of mutual acceptance and respect. A six session,
cross-cultural Bible Study on portions of the Exodus narrative was designed.
Building on the work of Eric H. F. Law and Walter Wink, a variety of
cross-cultural communication and subjective/imaginative techniques were
employed. Six lay leaders were trained in this cross-cultural Bible
Study method. These leaders formed and led three short-term, ethnically/linguistically
balanced, gender or age delineated Bible Study groups. The success of
these groups was evaluated using a variety of data gathering techniques,
including: questionnaires, mutual invitation discussions, interviews,
and observation. The cross-cultural Bible Study groups to a significant
extent created an environment and provided techniques that enabled both
Euro-American and Karen congregants to meet on common ground, develop
relationships, and share their experiences, insights, and cultural traditions.
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2002
Lokaler
Wandel und kulturelle Identität im Spannungsfeld nationaler Modernisierung
und globaler Umweltdiskurse. Die Karen im Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife
Sanctuary, einem Weltnaturerbe im Westen Thailands
by Buergin, Reiner
PhD, Institut für Ethnologie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Downloadable
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Hill
tribes struggling for a land deal: Participatory land use planning in
northern Thailand amid controversial policies
by Puginier, Oliver
PhD, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2002
Downloadable
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2001
A hermeneutic approach in the study of transformation
and being in healing and identity of health professionals serving: The
Karen, the Hmong, the Akha (Burma, Thailand)
by Fitzmaurice, Nancy Engberg,
EdD, UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 2001, 134 pages
The aim of the participatory research
project was to study the nature of healing as transformation in cultural
modes of identity within the hermenuetic tradition. The meaning of healing
was examined within the context of the following ethnic groups: the
Karen in Burma, the Hmong in Thailand, and the Akha in Thailand. The
data was collected from eleven health professionals who serve these
populations. The participants were invited to volunteer in formal participatory
conversations which were guided by issues of culture and how aspects
of culture influence one's life and the lives of those they care for
in a healing encounter, transformation and being in healing and the
issues of language.
Critical hermenuetic inquiry takes an ontological orientation towards
the interpretation of human experience and the healing process. Interpretation
of these stories were placed in language and the meaning is derived
from the reflective process as the researcher involved her life into
a dialectic with the participants. Aspects of healing revealed in stories
that were significant included the communities of suffering and the
metaphors of healing and transformation which provided an opening of
understanding between the health-care provider and their patients. The
narrative process provided an opportunity for health-care professionals
to better understand themselves and the transformation of healing that
occurs in the Karen, the Hmong, and the Akha as well as possibilities
for other groups.
Narrative creates new forms of human time and new forms of human community.
The future holds possibilities which can be narrated. Health-care professionals
incorporated historical ideas about culture into their current practice
situations and applied differences to shape the futures they envision
for themselves as well as the Karen, the Hmong, and the Akha.
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Economic crisis, elite cooperation, and democratic stability:
Asia in the late 1990s (Indonesia, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines,
The Philippines)
by Choi, Jungug,
PhD, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 2001, 259 pages
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A hermeneutic approach in the study of transformation and being in healing
and identity of health professionals serving: The Karen, the Hmong,
the Akha (Burma, Thailand)
by Fitzmaurice, Nancy Engberg;, EdD
UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 2001, 134 pages
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Ecological studies of reduced forest-fallow shifting
cultivation of Karen people in Mae Chaem watershed,
northern Thailand, and implications for sustainability
by Wangpakapattanawong, Prasit
PhD, THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (CANADA), 2001, 234 pages
The forest-fallow system of shifting
cultivation of upland rice and other food plants practiced by the Karen
people of Mae Hae Tai village, Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, is changing
due to increasing population and a resulting decrease in per capita
arable land-base. This has resulted in a reduction of the fallow period,
which was 10 or more years in the past. Ecological studies were conducted
to examine nutritional aspects of the forest-fallow shifting cultivation
using field experiments and a chronosequence of fields. The farmers
were interviewed about their traditional knowledge of shifting cultivation
system management. The yield of the upland rice crop under this system
was found to be about 1 t/ha, but is variable within fields, between
fields, and between years. The chronosequence study revealed that during
the five years of fallow there was an increase in soil organic matter
and total N attributed to the addition of litterfall from the fallow
species, but a decline in pH, available P, and extractable K, Ca, and
Mg. The biogeochemical studies of the forest-fallow shifting cultivation
system showed that nutrient losses via slash burning and harvested rice
grain are important outputs of N. P was found to be lost the most via
harvested rice grain, while losses in erosion and leaching may be important
for K, Ca, and Mg. A series of carefully controlled and replicated field
and pot experiments is needed to resolve the relative importance of
the different contributions of fallow to the sustainability of upland
rice. The following topics also deserve further research work: dynamics
of N in the system, change in resource-allocation patterns between above-
and belowground tree components, soil microbial activities and their
effects on N cycling, and other roles of the fallow periods (e.g. maintaining
good soil structure and providing useful plants and animals). The current
fallow period of five years appears to be sustainable at the present
landscape condition, but a further reduction in fallow length may pose
a risk to the apparent sustainability of this forest-fallow shifting
cultivation. Comparison of nutrient cycling between forest-fallow shifting
cultivation and fixed-field farming by simple and/or computer models
is needed to assess their sustainability.
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2000
Redefining nature: Karen ecological knowledge and the
challenge to the modern conservation paradigm (Thailand)
by Laungaramsri, Pinkaew; PhD
PhD, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, 2000, 344 pages
AAT 9983506
This dissertation is an ethnography that
offers a critical analysis of issues in contemporary conservation politics
in Thailand. By examining the development of the dominant nature conservation
ideology and the response by the Karen, a group of ethnic hill people,
to changing patterns of environmental control, the dissertation focuses
on two main themes. The first part covers the Thai forest history and
the role of development of scientific forestry in shaping discourses
and practices of Thai nature conservation. The latter part explores
Karen ecological knowledge and its challenge to the modern conservation
paradigm.
Central to the dissertation is the argument that "hill tribes",
"nature", and "conservation", in Thailand are not
only constructions but are also constantly "under construction".
The questions of how the dominant nature conservation ideology has been
constructed and how this ideology has been contested are the key issues
of this dissertation. By tracing the historical development of forestry
in Thailand, this study shows how Thai nature conservation is a product
of a social and political economic transformation in which shifting
conceptions of the forest represents an essential part of the modernization
of the Thai nation. The colonial legacy of commercial forestry, the
desire for modernization, and the use of natural resources for developmental
purposes are fundamental to the establishment of nature conservation
in urban Thai society. The making of nature conservation represents
a significant form of technology of government that involves the creation
of certain institutions, knowledge, and bureaucratic rationality. As
the state is not an undifferentiated entity, internal bureaucratic politics
have also significantly shaped the ways resources have been differently
viewed and utilized by different state agencies. In analyzing the mentality
shared among foresters and some nature conservationists, this study
suggests that the efficacy of conservation ideology lies not only in
the power of scientific forestry to transform perceptions of landscape
and the relationships linking landscape with certain groups of people,
but also in the capability to blend such perceptions into the existing
structure of class and ethnic inequality. As a result, class differentiation
and ethnic discrimination have become an integral part of the structure
of nature conservation ideology in Thai society.
The second part of this dissertation examines the ways in which Karen
knowledge has problematized the construction and centralization of the
state's modern conservation paradigm. In encounters with contemporary
conservation politics, Karen ecological knowledge represents a dynamic
and responsive mode of conceptualizing nature developed out of interactions
among competing discourses and knowledge of various social groups. Local
challenge to dominant forestry ideologies has therefore been constituted
through the appropriation of foreign knowledge such as mapping and the
invention of local tradition in resource management. This study shows
that the Karen adoption of certain terminologies, such as community
forest and rotational swidden agriculture, manifested in local maps
has provided them with a communicative device for use in dialogues with
forestry officials as well as with non-government organizations. These
counter-discourses have been employed by the Karen as a strategic tool
to defend their resources and to re-situate the marginal space and identity
of the Karen within the dominant Thai society. In this respect, reinvented
forms of local knowledge are generated through ongoing encounters between
the dominating and dominated ideas and practices with regard to nature
conservation in the Karen struggle for recognition within the dominant
Thai society.
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Religion and politics among the Chin people in Burma,
(1896--1949)
by Sakhong, Lian Hmung;, PhD
UPPSALA UNIVERSITET (SWEDEN), 2000, 392 pages
In many Asian countries today, there
are potential conflicts between the majority religion and culture and
ethnic minorities who practice another religion or religions. Problems
are easily aggravated if the government applies a confessional policy
on religion, which favors the majority religion, while minority religions
are marginalized or even suppressed. Contemporary Burma, or Myanmar,
is one example. Actually the very name "Myanmar" implies confessional
claims and ethnic exclusiveness, even if the present military junta
would prefer to be characterized as having opted for a secular policy
on religion.
In Burma, the maneuvering room for ethnic minorities is at issue. The
current situation of the Chin, Kachin, and Karen, for instance, can
be seriously questioned from a human rights point of view. This study
focuses on religion and politics among the Chin people in Burma. Until
the British annexation in 1896, Chinram, was an independent country
ruled by the Chin's traditional tribal and local chiefs called Ram-uk
and Khua-bawi , respectively. Although all the tribes and villages
followed the same pattern of belief systems, the ritual practices in
traditional Chin religion—called Khua-hrum worship—were
very much mutually exclusive, and thus could not serve to unite the
entire Chin people under a single religious institution. The traditional
structures of religion and culture are explored in Part One. By the
turn of twentieth century, however, Chin society was abruptly transformed
by powerful outside forces of change. The British conquered Chinram,
and the Christian missionaries followed the colonial powers and converted
the people. This process is studied in Part two with special reference
to the nature of change, which was thrust upon Chin society and - more
importantly - how the Chin responded to it. Part Three focuses on how
the Chin increasingly became related the Burmese attempts to form an
Independent Federal Union. As the process towards independence progressed,
the Chin increasingly articulated their own Christian traditions of
democracy and asserted a burgeoning self-awareness of their own national
identity.
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1999
People and protected areas: Impact and resistance among
the Pgak'nyau (Karen) in Thailand
by Maniratanavongsiri, Chumpol;, PhD
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO (CANADA), 1999, 265 pages
The society and identity of Pgak'nyau
(Karen) people in Thailand is integrally tied to their practice of agriculture
in forest environments. This thesis examines the resource management
system practised by the Pgak'nyau and how government conservation policies
have affected traditional ways of life. Changes in a strictly regulated
national park are compared to those in a village located in a national
forest reserve, where more flexibility is allowed in the use of natural
resources. The traditional way of life for the Pgak'nyau people began
to undergo major change in the 1960s when the Thai government passed
new forest and wildlife legislation, which expanded protected areas
into Pgak'nyau lands. The creation of strictly regulated national parks
severely affected traditional ways of life and created undue hardship
in Pgak'nyau communities. A ban on swidden agriculture in national parks
reduced the already marginal size of family farmland and park authorities
have blocked most development assistance to villages located within
park territory. The effect has been to relegate Pgak'nyau villages in
national parks to a lower standard of living in comparison to villages
located outside park boundaries.
In contrast, Pgak'nyau villages located in national forest reserves
have had a better quality of life because of greater flexibility permitted
in local use and control of natural resources. Moreover, the government
has provided development programmes to these Pgak'nyau villages that
have helped people cope with legislative change. People have stopped
practising swidden agriculture, but continue to cultivate wet rice for
subsistence and have adopted the cultivation of cash crops which were
introduced with government assistance. Government conservation efforts
have effected change in Pgak'nyau villages, though these changes may
have been unintended. Villages located in forest reserves have shown
no less concern in conservation efforts. Traditions based on community
management of forest resources have been maintained so that environmentally
sustainable agriculture is practised even without the regulatory restrictions
of national parks. Many villages have responded to park pressures by
forming conservation networks to lobby various levels of government.
These new organisations work to develop common conservation practices
among highland villages, while giving Pgak'nyau villagers a hitherto
unheard political voice.
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Sustainable ethnic tourism in northern Thailand: Challenges
and strategies
by McKenna, Juanita Christine;, MA
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA (CANADA), 1999, 113 pages
Alternative forms of tourism such as
eco-tourism, adventure tourism and ethnic tourism have become popular
options for a number of native populations attempting to participate
in mainstream economic systems. In some cases, the addition of a tourism
industry into these populations has created as many problems as solutions
for them. The purpose of this study was to examine the sustainability
of ethnic tourism in northern Thailand from the perspective of a selected
hill tribe population. To achieve this goal, a case study of the hill
tribe trekking industry in the Karen village of Ban Raummit was undertaken.
The findings of this study suggest that tourism in Ban Raummit faces
many challenges such as managing the perceived authenticity of the attraction,
controlling the development of an unplanned front stage (tourism district),
addressing the needs of the changing tourist types, and dealing with
a shifting ethnic balance within the village. At the same time, the
trekking industry seems to provide an attractive and appropriate opportunity
for the Karen people in this village to maintain a viable lifestyle
within a rapidly changing Thai state. Thus, strategies to address these
challenges and build a more sustainable industry for the Karen of
Ban Raummit have been recommended.
Продвижение сайта в сети - seo. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1997
Factors for the renewal of the Karen Baptist Church
of Myanmar
by Shwe, Saw Thein, DMis
FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, SCHOOL OF WORLD MISSION, 1997, 254 pages
Alternative forms of tourism such as
eco-tourism, adventure tourism and ethnic tourism have become popular
options for a number of native populations attempting to participate
in mainstream economic systems. In some cases, the addition of a tourism
industry into these populations has created as many problems as solutions
for them. The purpose of this study was to examine the sustainability
of ethnic tourism in northern Thailand from the perspective of a selected
hill tribe population. To achieve this goal, a case study of the hill
tribe trekking industry in the Karen village of Ban Raummit was undertaken.
The findings of this study suggest that tourism in Ban Raummit faces
many challenges such as managing the perceived authenticity of the attraction,
controlling the development of an unplanned front stage (tourism district),
addressing the needs of the changing tourist types, and dealing with
a shifting ethnic balance within the village. At the same time, the
trekking industry seems to provide an attractive and appropriate opportunity
for the Karen people in this village to maintain a viable lifestyle
within a rapidly changing Thai state. Thus, strategies to address these
challenges and build a more sustainable industry for the Karen of Ban
Raummit have been recommended.
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1996
Illegal conservation: Two case studies of conflict between
indigenous and state natural resource management
paradigms
by Thoms, James Michael
MA, TRENT UNIVERSITY (CANADA), 1996, 326 pages
This thesis is about how government natural
resource management systems have come into contact and conflict with
indigenous natural resource management systems. Two case studies have
been developed with two indigenous communities who have experienced
conflict with state management and have had their natural resource use
criminalized by state conservation laws. One case study is historical
and was conducted with the Red Rock Band, an Ojibway community located
on the Nipigon River, in northwestern Ontario. The second case study
is contemporary, and was conducted with Ban Mae Me Nai, a Karen community
located in the Jae Sorn National Park, in northern Thailand. This thesis
seeks to answer three questions about the nature of the conflict between
government and indigenous natural resource management systems: (1) How
are indigenous natural resource management systems criminalized? (i.e.,
how can the indigenous use of natural resources be framed as unlawful)
(2) How do indigenous communities respond to having their resource use
criminalized? (3) What has been the impact of the imposition of state
conservation laws on indigenous cultures and economy? Four stages were
observed in the criminalization of indigenous natural resource use:
(1) the indigenous management system is invisible, (2) the indigenous
use of the resources is portrayed as harmful, (3) the indigenous use
is defined as illegal, (4) the indigenous community eventually becomes
empowered to redress their rights to use and manage their natural resources
in their own manner.
The research found that indigenous communities have not been silent
to the take-over of their resources and the
criminalization of their resource use. It was found that the imposition
of state natural resource management systems on indigenous communities
has caused significant impacts upon their culture, economy, and environment.
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1995
A qualitative study of low socioeconomic status students
in a predominantly high socioeconomic status college in
Bangkok, Thailand (Bangkok Business College)
by Buranasombati, Pises,
PhD, ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY, 1995, 168 pages
A qualitative study was conducted during
the summer of 1995 to gather descriptive data from a sample of Hill
Tribes students who were attending the Bangkok Business College, Bangkok,
Thailand. The purpose of the research was to gather descriptive data
from a sample of low socio-economic status (SES) Hill Tribes students
(Hmong, Karen and Lisu) attending a predominantly high SES college in
Thailand. The study focused on the factors that are important in low
SES student adjustment and achievement and the success of the application
used in predominantly white colleges in the United States to help indigenous
students achieve academic success. The micro-level approach employing
a qualitative method was used for the investigation.
The research found that Hill Tribes children value education as a way
to raise their socio-economic status through employment in urban areas.
While parents did not provide financial support for the education of
their children, they took advantage of the national educational policy
for indigenous people. The opportunity for Hill Tribes students to continue
their education depended on direct and indirect costs. The most important
indirect cost was the social cost. The mechanisms that helped reduce
the direct costs were scholarship and accommodation.
The academic success of the Hill Tribes students in a predominantly
high SES college was the result of academic and social guidance and
counseling as well as work placement programs on the part of the college.
The students' endeavor to acquire academic success through participation
of academic activities stemmed from their desire for academic success.
This study revealed that there was a positive response for other SES
groups to socially accept low SES indigenous students.
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1994
IMPOSING COMMUNITIES: PWO KAREN EXPERIENCES IN NORTHWESTERN
THAILAND
by FINK, CHRISTINA LAMMERT, PHD
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, 1994, 311 pages
Membership in larger communities such
as the nation-state has been imposed on many smaller communities, but
local communities and individuals continue to play a dynamic role in
determining how they participate. This ethnography explores the experiences
of some animist Pwo Karen in Northern Thailand who are in the process
of being integrated into the Thai State. As these Karen have dealt with
increasing governmental intervention in local
affairs, they have begun to transform the way they understand and relate
to their own local communities. While the Ti Buh Ri area Karen could
not freely choose how to construct their relations with the Thai State,
they could choose to go along with, resist, or transform the way government
policies were implemented locally. More broadly, they could attempt
to reposition themselves either by joining the Karen who are fighting
for an autonomous state in Burma or by participating in Buddhist or
Christian communities in Thailand. How local Pwo Karen communities were
organized, interacted with the Thai State, and envisioned their options
for the future are analyzed throughout this ethnography.
Communities are both imposed on people and imposing to people. Here
I consider how communities were both imposed and imposing at the local,
national, and transnational level. Local Karen communities closely controlled
individual behavior while the Thai state attempted to impose new forms
of community and identity. At the same time, Karen leaders in Burma
sought to inculcate a sense of ethnic allegiance among the Karen in
Thailand. In discussing how communities are perceived as imposing, I
have addressed the role of emotions in general, and fear
in particular, in shaping the way the Ti Buh Ri area Karen have interpreted
and constructed their experiences. Examining local constructions of
emotions is critical for understanding how people and communities perceive
and interact with others.
With local Karen continually vying with each other for prestige, harmonious
relations have proved to be elusive. Conflict, while rarely overt, was
regularly expressed through public discourse around illness diagnosis.
Illnesses were often considered to result either directly or indirectly
from the actions of others. Moreover, individuals attempted to improve
their own positions by introducing new practices, attempting to ignore
community norms, and criticizing others. Thus, only by considering local
practices and interpretations of events, in addition to public expressions
of ideology, can social and political relations be more fully understood.
Practice theory, the cultural construction of emotions, and an anthropology
of experience have all informed this ethnography. I have sought to demonstrate
the divergent, positioned experiences of individuals and communities,
emphasizing the generative nature of experience. I have attended to
the intended and unintended consequences of peoples' actions and reflected
the extent to which a homogenizing world-systems approach cannot do
justice to the plurality of experiences and transformations which occur
at the local level. By focusing on the Ti Buh Ri area Karens' individual
and community efforts to solve novel problems and to reorient themselves
within shifting political realities, I have argued that greater attention
must be given to local practices, perceptions, and creativity.
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Sociocultural influences on child health and nutritional status in Karen
highlanders of Thailand
by Omori, Kinuko,
PhD, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, 1994, 472 pages
This research examines the influence
of mothers' beliefs and practices about food and child care on the nutritional
and health status of children, while controlling for other factors which
influence nutritional and health status in Karen highlanders of northwest
Thailand.
The study was conducted from January through December 1991 and included
three major seasons: post-harvest, pre-harvest, and harvest. Data was
collected on individuals from 77 less modernized Pwo animist and 71
more modernized Sgaw Christian households. The primary subjects within
each family were the mother and her preschool children. The data were
collected using a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques,
including participant observation, 24-hour dietary recalls, food frequency
interviews, socioeconomic and demographic information, child health
status, and anthropometric measurements.
Pwo children and mothers had overall higher levels of nutritional stress
than Sgaw children and mothers. Pwo children had higher levels of stunting
than Sgaw children but similar low levels of wasting and similar levels
of body fat. Pwo mothers were generally shorter and skinnier than Sgaw
mothers. These results reflected lower levels of nutrient intakes and
dietary adequacy among the Pwo than among their Sgaw counterparts. There
were very few seasonal fluctuations in anthropometry in either ethnic
group but there were greater seasonal variations in percentages of the
FAO/WHO recommended dietary intakes (RDIs) in all ethnic groups. Finally,
Pwo mothers and their children consumed overall fewer food items and
had less dietary diversity than Sgaw mothers and their children in all
three seasons.
The nutritional and health status differences between the Sgaw Christians
and Pwo animists were associated with numerous socioeconomic and demographic
variables and especially with belief system differences. The most reasonable
explanation is that these differences relate to the fact that the Sgaw
Christians tend to have a greater exposure to a modern way of life than
do Pwo animists.
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1993
Religion and social change: Ethnic continuity and change
among the Karen in Thailand with reference to the Canadian Indian experience
by Maniratanavongsiri, Chumpol,
MA, TRENT UNIVERSITY (CANADA), 1993, 198 pages
This thesis analyzes the process of social
change that has occurred as a result of conversion to Christianity by
the Karen in northern Thailand and the Indians in Canada. It is based
on data collected in 1991 from two Karen villages; one Animist and the
other Christian. The study used intensive interview schedules to interview
a random
sample of people in each village. It also utilized participant observation
of various activities in order to discern changes in the villages. The
data on the comparison to the Canadian Indian experience is based on
secondary sources.
Analysis of the data demonstrates that both Karen and Indian cultures
have changed since significant numbers of
each converted to Christianity. Christianity has also had a major impact
on Karen and Indian identity. However, neither group has assimilated
into the dominant culture. Both Karen and Indians are developing their
own distinctive ethnic identities and cultures. The new identity of
Christian Karen and Indians is the result of a blending of aboriginal
culture and the culture of dominant societies.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Innocent pioneers and their triumphs in a foreign land:
A critical look at the work of the American Baptist Mission in the Chin
Hills (1899-1966) in Burma from a missiological perspective (Baptist)
by Hup, Cung Lian,
THD, LUTHERAN SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, 1993, 204 pages
This dissertation examines the strong
and weak points of the work of the American Baptist Mission in the Chin
Hills (1899-1966) in Burma. The study argues that the ecumenical conciliar
approach to mission--i.e defending the validity of mission but not limiting
the saving power of God to Christianity--is the most acceptable approach
since it is more consistent with Christian belief and also with the
insights of the modern study of world mission.
The study also shows that the American Baptist missionaries to the Chin
Hills deserve commendation for their love for the Chins and for their
zeal and efforts of preaching the Gospel throughout the Chin Hills.
At the same time we see that the missionaries condemned many aspects
of Chin culture--even those aspects which were not opposed to Christian
beliefs--as animistic and introduced Christianity with their own western
culture. Today the fourth generation of Chin Christians no longer know
their culture and customs.
The American Baptist missionaries created three different writing systems
for the northern Chin Hills and translated the Bible into three different
dialects. Thus, instead of uniting the Chin into one group, the literary
work of the missionaries divided the northern Chin Hills into three
groups. This division exacerbated communication difficulties in this
small area. Finally, the study considers the Chin perception that in
terms of education, they were neglected by the American Baptist Foreign
Mission Society (ABFMS) because the ABFMS contributed much more money
and personnel for work among the Karen and the Burmese in the plain
area. This feeling of resentment became so strong that the Zomi (Chin)
Baptist Convention attempted to end its affiliation with the American
Baptist Churches/USA and to join the Southern Baptist Convention.
The study thus concludes that innocent human zeal, knowledge, motivation,
and labor for communicating the gospel to other cultures can not by
themselves produce the desired result in the mission field. Before bringing
the Gospel to the people of another culture, we need to study carefully
their past and present cultural expressions, their context, and their
needs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sword of the spirit: Christians, Karens, colonialists, and the creation
of a nation of Burma
by Petry, Jeffrey Louis,
PHD, RICE UNIVERSITY, 1993, 267 pages
An ethnography of representation combining
the following elements: (a) The American Baptist Mission to the Karen
people of Burma; (b) The emergence of Karen nationalism as a consequence
of the former, demonstrating the centrality of the phenomenon of 'writing,'
introduced by the missionaries, in this process; (c) The colonial milieux
in Burma, as evoked by the diverse documentary voices of American Baptists,
British colonialists, and Karen Christians; (d) Ethnic politics, from
the Karen rebellion after Burma's independence through the current democratic
challenge posed by a coalition of Burma's largest ethnic groups, including
Burman; (e) The fieldwork process; research and writing; ethnography;
exoticism and primitivism; and the construction of this text itself.
An ethnography of the Karen National Union, a predominantly Christian
insurgent army in Burma, is constructed. Through an assemblage of texts,
some of which have been translated into English for this project, the
origins, construction, and articulation of organized Karen nationalism
and cultural representation is depicted. The role of writing, print-technology,
and the circulation of texts is demonstrated to be central to the foregoing
processes in the Karen case. An anthropology of religion and an ethnography
of the politics of ethnicity explicates the ransitions from conversion
to ethnic nationalism to ethnic separatism to democratic opposition.
An evocative pastiche of discourses both reflects and contends with
the impossibility of objective representation, with regard to both the
subject and the process of research, which are thematically analogous:
They both begin and end in religion and politics--Christianity and revolution.
Diverse discursive styles and voices display the contested nature of
knowledge while simultaneously participating in the experiment of re-construction.
An academic, analytical style, for example, contributes to an understanding
of the dynamics of the emergence of ethnic nationalism and notions of
identity among Karen Christians in Burma, while the inclusion of Karen
stories provides the reader with meaningful complementary ethnographic
grounding. These juxtapositions simulate and stimulate the always inherent
tension between daily life and retrospection; between action and reconstruction;
between experience and representation; between living and writing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOWARD A NEW MISSIONARY IMPULSE OF THE KAREN BAPTIST CHURCH OF MYANMAR
(BAPTIST)
by SAY, SAW DOH, DMISS
FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, SCHOOL OF WORLD MISSION, 1993, 277 pages
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A STUDY OF KAREN BAPTIST CHURCH GROWTH IN MYANMAR
by ZAN, LIVINGSTONE,
THM, FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, SCHOOL OF WORLD MISSION, 1993, 117
pages
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The need for renewal and mission in the Karen Baptist Church of Burma
by Shwe, Saw Thein,
THM, FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, SCHOOL OF WORLD MISSION, 1993, 148
pages
Essentially and ultimately the mission
task is committed to the Holy Spirit. He is the present administrator
of mission, the propagation of the precious Gospel of God concerning
Jesus Christ. He is the only source for renewal. The church growth movement
and the mission of the Karen Baptist Church showed the early Karen leaders
were inspired by the Holy Spirit. This study is based on the conviction
that the power of the Holy Spirit, Key person, prayer and strategy are
the basic needs for renewal and mission of the church.
Eighty percent of the Karen population is still non- Christian. It is
evident that the growth of the church is not adequate. In order to improve
its growth, the church must be renewed and engage much more in mission
work. Only a renewed church will produce committed Christians for the
Kingdom of God.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992
Ritual and religious transformation among Sgaw Karen
of Northern Thailand: Implications on gender and ethnic identity
by Hayami, Yoko,
PHD, BROWN UNIVERSITY, 1992, 411 pages
This dissertation explores changes in
ritual and religion among the Sgaw Karen people of Northern Thailand,
through the analysis of continuities and transformations from traditional
ritual practices to those of Christianity and Buddhism. It examines
the role of ritual and religion for an ethnic minority group which is
negotiating its identity and belonging in a modernizing Buddhist nation.
It pays attention to the ways in which Karen ethnic identity and gender
relation articulate these changes against the background of rapid socioeconomic
changes and increasing involvement in the Thai national structure. While
many Karen villagers continue to perform traditional rituals, both Christianity
and Buddhism find larger followings among Karen than any of the other
'hill tribes' in Thailand.
These are the questions that frame the study: In what ways are traditional
rituals central and important to Karen life and why and how then, are
they abandoned? What is the relationship between traditional practices
and the adopted religions, and what is 'religion' to the Karen? How
does religious change articulate with the changing socioeconomic and
political condition of the community? Amidst such changes, wherein do
Karen find the basis for ethnic identity, and, since traditional ritual
roles are differentiated along lines of gender, how are changes experienced
and perceived by women and men respectively? Central to Karen traditional
rituals and religion is the notion of power. Ritual is bodily involvement
in the environment as conceived by villagers including the socioeconomic
and cosmological, and changes in the latter affect the former. The sense
of continuity of tradition in the family rite, and the bounded and ordered
community exemplified in the communal rite provide bases of identity.
Increasingly, villagers adopt Christian or Buddhist practices which
allow them to both adapt and make the most of the changes, and redefine
and maintain the sense of community, continuity, control of power, and
autonomy. Such practices enable participation in new system of prestige,
while involving villagers in diversely redefined communities, rending
the traditional community with pluralized centers of power. Traditional
ritual divisions along gender lines inform the paths by which women
and men experience these changes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A renewal strategy of the Karen Baptist Church of Myanmar
(Burma) for mission
by Taw, Saw Gler,
THM, FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, SCHOOL OF WORLD MISSION, 1992, 184
pages
Biblical and theological truth is the
basic foundation of renewal. The renewal movements of Pietism, Moravianism,
and Methodism clearly exhibited the powerful work of the Holy Spirit
in renewal in the church and the outcome of renewal in mission cross-culturally.
The dynamic of these movements was linked in many aspects and has parallels
to the Karen Baptist Church context. Church growth, people movements
and the mission of the Karen Baptist Church showed how the Karen fore-fathers
were zealous in mission. Poverty, oppression, institutionalization and
nominalism, including both external and internal factors inhibit the
church today.
This research recommends repentance, the power and gifts of the Holy
Spirit, a focus on biblical truth, leadership and prayer as the means
of achieving the renewal of the church. The purpose of this study is
to utilize these key
dynamics and recommended a strategy for the renewal of the Karen Baptist
Church so it can produce committed Christians and evangelize the larger
non-Christian population in the country.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aphasia: Some neurological, anthropological and postmodern
implications of disturbed speech
by Doody, Rachelle Smith
PhD, RICE UNIVERSITY, 1992, 216 pages
This work begins by examining the history
of aphasia studies, placing them in the context of historically concurrent
theories about speech and language. The historical analysis can be read
as a deconstructive incision into contemporary discourses which use
information about language to make inferences about brain functioning
or thought processes. A deconstructive critique of aphasiology and those
sciences upon which it is built, including linguistics and localization
theory, suggests that aphasia is constructed artificially so that it
cannot be localized or explained by brain mechanisms.
Anthropological influences in this work inform the style of analysis
as well as the range of inquiry. Situated in postmodern anthropology,
the thesis includes an investigation of positioning: positioning of
the author within medicine (neurology) and anthropology; and positioning
as a phenomenon brought about by certain sets of practices. Among these
practices are those related to the scientific method and those related
to more interpretive or hermeneutic strategies. Several controversies
within anthropology are related to the clash between science and not-science,
including feminist and postmodern debates. Practices, which are situation-dependent,
are not as conflicted as theories are and provide reasonable ways to
separate sense (or meaningfulness) from non-sense (or artifacts) in
daily life and work.
Related to questions of method and interpretation are questions about
'data.' What count(s) as data? Should units of significance be predetermined,
or discovered in the process of investigation? How do standardized methodologies
or interpretive expectations shape the outcome of clinical, scientific,
and anthropological studies? A narrative style is employed to discuss
these questions by telling particular stories involving research and
publication: case reports in neurology; semantics of sentence accent
in Alzheimer's disease; and fieldwork in northern Thailand concerning
nonliteracy and its effects on cognitive processes among Karen hilltribes.
These disciplinary projects are contrasted and data creation discussed.
What began as an examination of the history of aphasia studies concludes
in discussion of aphasic speech as an example/critique of postmodern
and anthropological discourse. Practices that cluster around the study
of aphasia, particularly those involving living patients, provide useful
critiques to scientific, anthropological and postmodern theorizations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1990
A brief history and development factors of the Karen
Baptist Church of Burma (Myanmar)
by Say, Saw Doh,
THM, FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, SCHOOL OF WORLD MISSION, 1990, 208
pages
The Karens accepted Christ in great numbers
and formed the most developed, largest church in Burma. What were the
contributing factors? Religious traditions, such as the YWA (God) legend
and The Story of the Lost Book, had prepared the Karens for Christianity.
Ko Tha Byu's conversion marked the beginning, which soon became a people
movement. Evangelistic zeal and supernatural factors aided the development
of the Karen Baptist Church. It was self- propagating, self-supporting
and self-governing, actively engaged in education, literature and leadership
training. The Church now focuses on reaching Karen non-Christians. Evaluation
supports several recommendations for future mission work for this Church
in order to fulfill its theme, 'Burma for Christ.'
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1989
In search of the Karen king: A study
in Karen identity with special reference to 19th century Karen evangelism
in northern Thailand
by Hovemyr, Anders Peter
UPPSALA UNIVERSITET (SWEDEN), 1989, 200 pages
If one studies the religious map of Southeast
Asia, it is interesting to note that the percentage of Christians is
small, but in certain areas, concentrated in specific environments,
the number of Christians is quite considerable If one looks more carefully,
with reference to ethnic classifications, one soon realizes that Christianity
has a greater affiliation among ethnic minorities, which tend to be
marginalized in regard to the general national development. The Karen
Christian community in Burma and Thailand is a case in point. Modern
historical and anthropological studies on the Karen emphasize the complex
issue of Karen identity, or Karen-ness, in the midst of a multi-ethnic
environment. An important element of this Karen identity is the sharing
of common historical experiences--exploitation, persecution and marginalization.
In studies of Karen identity formation, which give due attention to
this historical dimension, exploration of the formation and role of
the Karen Christian community becomes significant.
The present study focuses on the formation of a representative Christian
minority within the Karen community in Thailand. It traces an indigenous
missionary and ecclesiastical development by following the formation
of one distinct feature within Karen identity, rather than investigating
only a purely institutional development.
Chapters I and II outline the wider historical and religious changes
in the region in the 19th century, paying special attention to the influence
of political Buddhism and millenarian movements in the face of external
and internal colonial expansion. The second part of the study gives
a historical survey of different missionary attempts to reach the Karen
in Thailand from the 1820s through the late 1870s (chapter III). The
focus is on the ensuing process of the establishment, rise and subsequent
stalemate of the Christian community among the Karen in northern Thailand
(chapter IV).
The final section (chapter V) is a summary assessment, which gives special
attention to the interaction of Karen identify and Karen Christian identity.
As such, it relates the findings of this study to a wider discussion
on the role of religious identity among ethnic minorities.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IN SEARCH OF THE KAREN KING: A STUDY IN KAREN IDENTITY WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO 19TH CENTURY KAREN EVANGELISM IN NORTHERN THAILAND (NINETEENTH
CENTURY)
by HOVEMYR, ANDERS PETER, FILDR
UPPSALA UNIVERSITET (SWEDEN), 1989, 200 pages
Not Available from UMI
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1987
Siam's loss of Trans-Salween territory to Great Britain
in 1892
by CHAKANDANG, CHARAN, PHD
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1987, 233 pages
Siam's loss of the Trans-Salween territory
in 1892 was a consequence of the territorial dispute between Britain
and Siam after the British annexation of Burma in 1886. This study investigates
the causes of the dispute both on
the part of Siam and of Britain, the reasons why the British insisted
on annexing this area, and finally the reaction of the Siamese and their
resolution of this problem.
The dispute began in 1884 when the Siamese claimed the area during the
launching of an administrative reform program in that region. After
the annexation of Burma in 1886 the British also claimed the area, based
on the assertion that since they succeeded to the rights of the king
of Burma, the area should be theirs as well. The Siamese protested and
futile negotiations took place for several years. In 1890, another dispute
over the Trans-Salween Karenni arose, after the British annexation of
the Karen country.
Despite the appointment of boundary commissions by both sides to settle
the problems, the negotiations dragged
on. In June 1892, both sides finally came to an agreement to settle
their problems. The Siamese renounced all their claims to the territory
on the east bank of the Salween and accepted Kyiang Chiang, a Shan state
on the Mekong River, as compensation from the British.
The Siamese gave in because at that time they were threatened by the
French on their eastern frontier and did not want to antagonize the
British whose support would be useful, should France take an aggressive
action against them. The British on the other hand wanted the area because
they feared that in the future France might expand in that direction.
To be secure the British decided to annex the area so that they could
have the watershed as their boundary line instead of the river. Similar
to other cases elsewhere, Siam's loss of the Trans-Salween territory
was a consequence of Weltpolitik. Had Siam not possessed a competent,
resourceful government at that time, there would have been little chance
for the country to have remained independent during the heyday of European
colonial expansion.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FARMER MANAGEMENT OF RICE VARIETY DIVERSITY IN NORTHERN
THAILAND (HMONG, KAREN)
by DENNIS, JOHN VALUE, JR.
PHD, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 1987, 386 pages
Agricultural scientists involved in extending
modern crop varieties in developing countries should respect indigenous
practices which maintain varietal diversity within cereal monocultures.
In situ diversity of germ plasm preserves evolutionary options, enables
the 'reversibility' of varietal change at the local level, and reduces
disease and insect problems. Fieldwork among lowland Thai, Hmong, and
Karen farming communities in northern Thailand demonstrates that there
was active retention of rice varietal diversity in irrigated and upland
agroecosystems, whereas in the rainfed area lowland Thai farmers discarded
all traditional rice varieties, apparently due to the incompatibility
of these varieties with chemical fertilizer, which was widely used on
rainfed soils.
Some farmers actively exchange rice varieties along kinship lines between
villages and districts due to their perception that yields decline when
the same variety is grown successively for more than three years. Genetic
erosion of varieties has been high, but so is the influx of new varieties
to irrigated and upland areas. Of 89 lowland Thai varieties collected
in the approximate study area in 1950-61, only 15 were collected under
the same names in 1982-83. However, about 100 lowland Thai varieties
were collected in 1982-83 in the approximate study area. Of 166 rice
farmers sampled in a random survey, only one planted a modern rice variety
(MV) in 1979, compared to 28 per cent planting MVs in 1984. Adoption
of MVs often was not a unidirectional process at the farm level. Early
adopters of MVs displayed 'contrarian' or 'diversity maintaining' behavior
by (a) shifting to another outside variety before the first became popular,
and (b) also using out-of-favor traditional varieties. In 1983, irrigated,
upland, and rainfed farms had average rice yields of 3.6, 2.9, and 1.9
MT/ha, respectively. Traditional and modern varieties gave comparable
yields under rainfed conditions.
Isozyme analysis of rice variety accessions indicated that many lowland
Thai traditional varieties that were morphologically diverse were genetically
similar, whereas modern varieties brought new isozyme groups to the
region. Adoption of MVs has led to the genetic simplification of lowland
rice agroecosystems in the Philippines and South Korea, but partial
adoption of MVs in northern Thailand has increased genetic diversity
of lowland rice agroecosystems.
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1986
A GRAMMATICAL SKETCH OF EASTERN KAYAH (RED KAREN) (BURMA,
THAILAND)
by SOLNIT, DAVID BENEDICT, PHD
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, 1986, 387 pages
This dissertation describes the Eastern
dialect of Kayah (also known as Red Karen), a language of the Karen
group of the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan linguistic stock.
Kayah is the major language of the Kayah State of Burma, and is also
spoken in a small area of Mae Hong Son province in northwestern Thailand,
where the data for this grammatical sketch was recorded. Kayah is tonal,
monosyllabic (with familiar qualifications), and lacks affixational
morphology except in relic form. Compounding, however, is extensive,
involving both nouns and verbs.
After brief descriptions of the phonology and the nature of the morpheme
and farm classes, a fairly detailed description is given of the Verb
Complex, a potentially very complicated structure centered around the
main verb of the simple clause. Kayah is typical of languages of the
mainland Southeast Asia-southern China linguistic area in having verb
serialization (also 'verb series', 'verb concatenation'). It is unusual
in combining basic SVO typology with extensive use of immediate concatenation
of verbs, with no intervening arguments, a trait more typical of the
verb-final languages of the area. It is argued that these constructions
in Kayah are best analyzed as compounds, formed in the morphology/lexicon,
rather than syntactic phrases, whether base-generated or derived by
transformation. The lexical structure of these compound verbs is described
in terms of (a version of) current morphological theory. Other chapters
describe clause structure; the syntactic behavior of the NP, PP and
Numeral-Classifier construction, sentence types; and an outline of interclausal
syntax (nominalized clauses, and clause sequences).
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1984
WORLDVIEW EVANGELISM: A CASE STUDY OF THE KAREN BAPTIST
CHURCH IN THAILAND
by CONKLIN, JAMES ERNEST, DMISS
FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, SCHOOL OF WORLD MISSION, 1984,
318 pages
How do animistic people come to believe
in God and grow to spiritual maturity as 'ones whose lives are modeled
after Jesus Christ,' so that reversion and syncretism are avoided? Can
people become Christian just as we find them? Struggling with this problem
over a fifteen-year period among the Karen People of northwestern Thailand,
I began developing by trial and error an effective method I have called
worldview evangelism.
This case study shows why this method was needed, how it developed,
and what potentials it may have for church growth. It is presented as
a personal case study, for the benefit the struggle may have to missionary
and national leaders contemplating similar efforts.
In this study I will trace actual experiences leading to a better understanding
of Karen worldview, and the consequent adjustments that were made in
team evangelism. Karen ethnohistory, history of Christian work among
Thai Karens, and concepts relating to worldview evangelism will be considered.
Charts and graphs will hopefully improve understanding. Subsequent field
research efforts on two occasions during the last six years add to the
data by which this concept is tested.
A comprehensive method of worldview evangelism is proposed for identifying,
contacting, winning new peoples to the Christian faith, and nurturing
them as they grow into Christian maturity. This method has also been
used to strengthen already organized but weak churches. Worldview evangelism
methods, used under a controlled period of implementation, were much
more effective than traditional methods. The Thailand Karen Baptist
Convention is requesting this method be initiated in 1985 to reach the
remaining 250,000 Karen non-Christians in Thailand.
Permanent improvements in the life of primitive peoples depend largely
on a changed and changing worldview system. Authentic conversion can
bring this about. Worldview evangelism elicits such a response. The
Holy Spirit awaits the sensitive efforts of missionaries, national and
foreign, to understand and work within the worldviews of all mankind.
It is the author's hope that this model will be seriously implemented
among other peoples in similar settings. Results could be exciting.
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1983
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PLANTING AND
GROWTH OF THE CHURCH IN BURMA
by VUTA, KAWL THANG, DMISS
FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, SCHOOL OF WORLD MISSION, 1983,
363 pages
Burma (area 261,228 sq. miles) is predominantly
Buddhist. Only five percent of the population is Christian. The rest
are Hindus, Muslims, secularists and animists. Christianity was introduced
by the Roman Catholics in 1554, and by the Protestants (Baptists) in
1813. The Roman Catholics started work among the Portuguese believers.
There were over 3,000 Roman Catholics in Burma before Adoniram Judson
arrived; however there were no Burmese converts. The first Burmese congregation
was formed with eighteen members in 1822. U Naw was the first Burmese
convert, and U Ing, the first evangelist ever commissioned, was the
second convert.
A People Movement (mass conversion to Christianity) began in 1828 with
the conversion of Ko Tha Byu, the first Karen convert. Chins, Kachins,
Lahus, Was and other animistic tribal people became Christians during
a similar People Movement. They now compose ninety-eight percent of
the Burmese Christians. Only two percent came to Christ by individual
conversions against the tides and barriers.
Preaching in the zayats, distribution of Christian literature, teaching
and translation of the Bible, establishment of schools and dispensaries,
house to house evangelism, were the main strategies of early missions
and evangelism. The zayat preaching ceased in the twentieth century
and gradually shifted to the Mission Station Approach. An ecumenism
was introduced before the Second World War.
The Western missionaries initiated and headed missionary works until
1966, when they were asked to leave, emphasizing theological training
from the beginning. Under the mutual efforts of the Western and national
missionaries the Church grew. There were no serious problems between
the missions and the national churches in Burma. School and medical
approaches helped church growth. Many Karen missionaries were sent to
upper Burma. Preaching the Gospel is a spontaneous act of the typical
Burmese convert. This is probably the main factor of the growth of the
Church.
Ninety percent of the people in Burma are still unreached. The Church,
therefore, should seek out the most effective mission strategies and
train the Christians on mission awareness until every hundred communicants
send out one home missionary. Hundreds of itinerant preachers are urgently
needed, otherwise Burma will never be evangelized.
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1980
A HISTORY OF CHURCH GROWTH IN THAILAND: AN INTERPRETIVE
ANALYSIS 1816-1980
by SMITH, ALEXANDER GARNETT, DMISS
FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, SCHOOL OF WORLD MISSION, 1980, 584 pages
This work describes, evaluates and interprets
all related historical processes behind the emergence of the Thai Church
during successive stages of missionary activity between 1816-1980. The
effects of relevant political influences, mission policies, and problems
encountered are analyzed for church growth or decline at each stage.
Many observations concerning Thailand are reflected in Mission records
of other lands during similar periods. The first decade concerns pioneer
evangelism among Siamese (Thai) in Burma (through Ann Judson). Anti-
mission sentiments, especially along the American frontiers, added to
missionary difficulties. The fifteen decades following 1828 concerns
resident Protestant Missions and church growth within Thailand. Roman
Catholic Missions are summarized. Ethnic growth--Chinese, Thai, Karen
and other tribes--are compared. Two fundamental mission philosophies
were: (1) 'evangelize first, then educate,' and (2) 'educate in order
to evangelize.' The effects of each are compared in relation to church
growth.
Whenever all activities were geared primarily to evangelism, church
growth seemed inevitable. Key elements included the goal of planting
churches immediately, determined itinerant evangelism, deliberate training
of mature Christian leaders, and Christian believers' education.
The second philosophy hoped for the Church of tomorrow through educating
non-Christian youth of the day. Key personnel were educators, not evangelists.
When personnel shortages arose, eduational institutions frequently took
priority over church needs.
Successive stages of growth include: (1) The exploratory phase of establishing
permanent mission stations by American Baptists, American Presbyterians,
and the American Board (ABCFM) (1816-1851). (2) The period of struggling
Church emergence (1851-1883). Early converts were primarily mission
employees and their families. Small people movements, principally among
the Northern Lao pioneered by Daniel McGilvary, strengthened the Church.
(3) A strong growth movement in the North (1884-1914). McGilvary's mission
philosophy is analyzed. (4) A phase of retarded growth through church
consolidation as mission philosophy changed (1914-1940). A brief revival
occurred under John Sung (1938-1939). (5) Church decline under persecution
during World War II (1914-1945). (6) A period of revitalization through
post-war recovery and an influx of new Missions (1945-1980).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979
THE KAREN BRONZE DRUMS OF BURMA: THE MAGIC POND
by COOLER, RICHARD MORRALL
PhD, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 1979, 401 pages
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KARIANG: HISTORY OF KAREN-T'AI RELATIONS FROM THE BEGINNINGS
TO 1923
by RENARD, RONALD DUANE,
PhD, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII, 1979, 306 pages
The Karens, whose population numbers
from three to five million, inhabit the Thai-Burma border region as
well as parts of the Burma Delta and north Thailand away from the border.
Karens are so diverse culturally that no set of defined characteristics,
such as religion, clothing, or even a mutually intelligible language
applies to all of them. Though many Karens do share a variety of cultural
attributes, what sets the Karens off from other groups is their conviction
that they are Karens. Karens recognize two main sub-groups, the Sgaws
and the Pwos, and a variety of smaller sub-groups, referred to in this
dissertation as Red Karens.
Karen oral history indicates that Karens entered Southeast Asia from
the north, but there are no non-Karen sources that corroborate this
belief. Based on Karen oral tradition, on circumstantial evidence from
Pagan inscriptions from the ninth to eleventh centuries, and on T'ai
chronicles, Karens entered what is now Upper Burma
and northern Thailand sometime before the eighth century A.D. References
to the Karens in Burman and T'ai literature remains so vague, however,
that not until the eighteenth century does a picture of Karens emerge.
During the Burma-Mon-Thai wars from 1753-1824, many Karens, caught in
the crossfire, fled from Burma into Siam and northern Thailand. Some
Karens, often the Pwos, serving as border guards, spies, and scouts,
entered Thai life on the frontier. In central Thailand, at least three
Karen settlements were ranked by the Thais as Third Class Provinces,
and their rulers accorded titles of nobility. Many Karens here were
phrais (freemen), having the same responsibilities and benefits as Thai
phrai. The Karens in the north and central Thailand supplied the courts
in both regions with valuable produce in the traditional Southeast Asian
economy that the Thais often did not procure themselves. Karens in Sangkhlaburi
were famous for the cotton they brought to the court at Bangkok, and
Karens elsewhere provided lac, tin, sappan wood, animal skins, horns,
and hides.
But the importance of the Karens to Thai life began to ebb in the late-nineteenth
century. British domination of the Thai export economy; the Bowring
Treaty; King Mongkut's adoption of silver taxation in favor of taxation
in kind; and, in 1869, completion of the Suez Canal which made the marketing
of bulk goods to Europe feasible; combined to undercut the Karens' contribution
to the central Thai and, later, the northern Thai economies. Thailand's
economy was transformed from an Asia-oriented, barter economy specializing
in luxury exports to a Europe-oriented, money economy specializing in
bulk exports such as rice and teak. Most Karens did not possess the
resources or capabilities to compete in the developing Thai economy,
so Karen economic fortunes were destined to decline. Furthermore, the
Karens' usefulness to Thai foreign policy virtually ended in the early
years of the reign of King Chulalongkorn. Chulalongkorn recognized the
plight of the Karens and tried to extend to them all of the benefits
of the modernized Thai state he was building. By incorporating all Karen
phrai and non-phrai into the new Thailand as citizens, Chulalongkorn
made them eligible for the army and police drafts, arranged for the
election of headmen in Karen villages, and taxed them at the same rate
as Thais. These measures benefited some Karens, particularly those who
were phrai, but provided only limited help to the vast majority of the
Karens in the kingdom. During Chulalongkorn's reign, Karens became citizens
and enjoyed a warm personal relationship with the king, but, except
for benefiting from the newly introduced smallpox vaccine, many Karens
suffered in almost every other regard.
The Karen decline has continued since Chulalongkorn's reign. In 1923,
thirteen years after Chulalongkorn's death, when the last Karen provincial
leader, Phra Si Suwannakhiri, retired as Nai Amphoe (District Officer)
and was replaced by a civil servant sent up from Bangkok, Karens lost
the last vestige of their traditional political status as well. From
a rather comfortable existence at the start of Chulalongkorn's rule,
Karens are today among the poorest people in the kingdom of Thailand.
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1965
BAN HONG: SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND ECONOMY OF A PWO KAREN
VILLAGE IN NORTHERN THAILAND
by HAMILTON, JAMES WILLIAM, PHD
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 1965, 295 pages
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1958
The Karen Language; Descriptive and Comparative Studies
by Jones, Robert B., Jr., PHD
University of California at Berkeley, 1958, 254 pages
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